Question and Answers.

Many photographers from all over the country ask their doubts on telephone. We certainly help them out. May we request them to
send emails too so that others would also be benefited by our answers.

Your queries and difficulties will be solved by experts
in the respective fields in this section

Q. I would like to shoot in the morning light(7 to 9). But my photos always show a yellow cast to some extent. What would be its remedy? Your guidance please.

Ujjol Thapa Bhaktapur, Nepal

Ans. Our eyes have a general tendency to see everything as normal in colouring. This is because of two reasons. Firstly our eyes are subjectively controlled by our mind as a result we see what we expect to see. Secondly the eyes have a remarkable power of adation. They keep changing their colour sensitivity depending on the colour composition of light. This is similar to the auto white balance setting in a digital camera. Though morning sunlight is yellow, our eyes fail to detect that and hence we see the scene as normal in colouring. Films on the other hand do not posses these phenomena and hence record the reality. Films are made to use under a light of specific colour composition. a daylight balanced film as in your case will render colours correctly if used under average daylight that is available at around 10 a.m. As the light is yellow before that you get a yellow cast on your photos.
A pale blue filter would remove this yellow cast from your pictures. Pale blue filters are known as light balancing filters. They are quoted by number 82 and are available in many different densities such as 82A, 82B, 82C and 82D. Try using 82C at around 8 and 82A at 9 in the morning. If you are shooting on a colour negative film, the colours may also be corrected during printing stage if you do not use filters. Manual or digital colour printing is recommended for that but if you want to shoot on a colour transparency/slide film then a filter is a must.

Q. I own a studio. Even if I use a snow white background I always get it as grey in the photo. How would I get pure white colour in the background?

Ashok Hiwrale, Nagpur

Ans. It seems that you are not throwing extra light on the background. In a studio lighting set-up we set exposure depending upon the light falling on the subject. As the background is some distance away from the subject it receives less light and hence goes little darker, a white background as a result turns grey. Illuminate the background uniformly so that you get the same exposure reading for the background as your subject. In other words the background should also receive the same amount of light as the subject. You may throw little more light on the background but it should not me more than one stop.

If its not possible for you to put additional light on the background then make the model sit closer to the background and take the light source further away from the model. Here adjust the lighting so that the shadow falling behind is not seen in the frame. Of course you will have to adjust (open up) the aperture for getting correct exposure of the subject. This would reduce the tonal difference between subject and background and a white background would not be rendered much darker.

Q. A faster lens with speed or largest aperture f2.8 is said to be better than a slower one with speed f3.5. In what sense is a faster lens better than a slower one?

Niraj Kamath, Bangalore.

Ans. Optical quality of a lens does not necessarily depend upon the speed of the lens. As a faster lens allows more light to pass through its more helpful in low light situations. The main advantage of a faster lens particularly with an SLR camera, where the viewing is through the lens, is that it gives more brightness in the viewfinder to make focusing easier under low light conditions. This is because SLR cameras have a feature known as Automatic Diaphragm Setting by which the working aperture, however small it may be, is set moment before the shutter opens, otherwise the aperture remains full open and allows highest amount of light in to get brightest possible viewing.

Q. Would it be right to attach an U.V. filter permanently on my lens? Does it have some adverse effect on the picture quality?

 Chirag Patel, Rajkot

Ans. An U.V. filter absorbs invisible ultra violet radiations. As a result of these radiations, a landscape would appear hazy in the photograph. U.V. filter removes this haze to some extent. The filter is colourless hence it may be attached permanently on the lens, firstly because it will have no adverse effect on any colour as rendered on a final output and secondly because it will act as a lens protector or a transparent cap, the lens would be saved from risks like dust accumulation, finger impressions appearing on it etc. Truly speaking a filter, as it's a glass element, always has some adverse effect on the picture quality, but considering the advantage you get from the filter this drawback may easily be ignored. Do not buy inexpensive, ordinary filter, a multi-coated filter is a better choice. Always keep the filter clean.

Q. I use Nikon FM10 camera with 35-70mm zoom lens. I fail to get blurred backgrounds in most of my wedding portraits. What should I do? Please help.

 Raman Bhalla, Sholapur

Ans. It seems that you are getting more depth of field in the portraits. To get a shallow depth of field you need to use a longer focal length lens such as 135mm or 200mm. Consider buying a Nikon 70-210mm manual focus zoom lens or 70-300mm auto/manual zoom lens made by Nikon, Sigma or Tamron. Shoot the portraits at focal lengths around 135 to 200 mm with apertures set at f4 or f5.6 and adjust the shutter speed/flash intensity accordingly. Make sure that the bride and groom are not sitting close to the background. It's not clear which focal length you set on you existing 35-70mm lens. Always set 70mm focal length on your 35-70mm, set widest aperture, adjust exposure accordingly, keep background away from the subject and shoot, results would definitely improve.

Q. I am a Doctor by profession and use a Canon EOS300V SLR camera. I often do copying of CT Scans, but I never get them sharp if I take the camera close to the display film. Is anything wrong in the camera?

 Dr. Sarita Bhagwat, Mumbai

 Ans. A camera always has a limit for close focusing distance. Camera cannot go closer than this limit without getting blurred pictures. You need to buy a Macro lens that will solve your problem but the lens is quite expensive, otherwise try using close-up lenses. Close-up lenses are cheap and are attached atop the camera lens. A set of 4 lenses may be bought for say Rs.250/- These lenses are available with specific diameter which should match that of the front /filter diameter of your lens. The filter diameter of your lens is marked on the inner side of the lens cap. Close up lenses are quoted as +1, +2, +4 etc. First attach +1 lens to your camera lens and gradually start getting closer to the display film you want to shoot while seeing through the viewfinder. Stop moving as you get clear image in the viewfinder and shoot. A +2 lens will allow you to get still closer and +4 further closer. So try using different lenses to find out which lens suits your work most. A point & shoot digital camera with in-built Macro Feature would be a better option. I also advise to mount your camera on a tripod to avoid getting shaky pictures as such copying is generally possible with slow shutter speeds. So set your EOS300V's exposure mode dial to Av, set wide aperture, get correct focus in the viewfinder and shoot.

Q. What is red eye effect? How does the Red Eye Reduction feature found on a camera remove it?

 M. V. Katty, Belgaum

 Ans. Head & shoulder portraits shot with built-in flash generally show red eye effect. In an indoor situation, as the light is low, the pupil of eye is wide open. When the flash fires the light goes straight to eye and gets bounced off the red retina of eye, as a result the middle of eye looks red. This is known as red eye effect. Cameras, which have Red Eye Reduction feature, first throw a powerful beam of light on the eyes of subject so as to reduce the size of pupil and then fire the flash to shoot the portrait. This reduces the effect of red eye to a greater extent.